stevethemanjordan

Exactly. It's going to be pretty funny when Yarran is running around playing really good football for a different club next year. Might just be for us. Fickle folk you lot.

Do you rate Watts? What have your thoughts been about his lack of effort and intensity at times? It's not a matter of Yarran not doing the basics. When he plays well and is high on confidence he does everything well including the basics. Just like Watts and others at our club, this year he's let a few habits sneak in that don't look good at all. Over his entire career, is that a reflection of who he is as a player or where he is mentally at a club that are going through a rough season? I can't quite understand how you paint him one colour and say that's the way it is yet you're happy to defend others who have gone through similar form slumps, shown similarly bad habits etc. I have a feeling it's because you barrack for Melbourne, and not Carlton...

Confidence and self-belief are key to him and he's slowly starting to believe in himself. At the champs he knew he was good. He needs to know that at this level and he'll break the shackles. McCartney is doing an outstanding job, I'm looking forward to what will unfold in the coming weeks.

Yes. Seems to be an opinion shared by a few around here. Aside from his form slump this year, I can't quite workout why. I mean, so many are willing to give the time of day to many Melbourne players if they go through similar form slumps.Yarran finished 4th in Carlton's bnf last year. And again I'd like to remind you of where Garlett was playing his footy this time last year. In the VFL. Yarran's best is simply sublime and over his career he has shown more of his good form than bad. It's really only this year that he's hit rock bottom and given the fact that we have McCartney, Goodwin and Roos as arguably some of the best football development coaches in the league, I'm again not sure why so many choose to believe Yarran will forever be playing in the manner he is now. As for Demham. Lols. I'd rather cut off my member and sit in vinegar than to hear him speak.

I think the Myers rumour is nothing but scuttlebutt. The bloke is injury-riddled and I'm pretty sure he's one of the 34 in question. We may have had a crack in the past but I cannot see the logic in going hard for a player like him now. Not exactly a list 'need' either. Of course an A-grade/class mid would be the number one priority over the trade/FA period (like Danger or Treloar), but if that doesn't work out I'd like for us to bring in a few players who fill our list needs. Yarran - Class and leg-speed A Ruckman-Forward who we could hopefully play to give Gawn a chop out. Trent McKenzie - Elite kick and good line breaker to compliment our backline. Jed Anderson - hard at it and skilled midfielder who won't cost the world. Let's say Garland and Howe leave and Cross retires. 2016 round 1 Team: B Jetta Dunn Frost HB McKenzie McDonald Salem C Yarran Vince Lamumba HF Petracca Dawes Watts F Garlett Hogan Kent Foll Gawn Jones Viney Int Brayshaw Trengove Tyson Ruckman/forward Knocking on the door : Anderson, Vanders, JKH, Newton

Well we do have Frost for one. A 196 cm agile and aggressive giant who from most reports is going to be groomed as a backman. (And played most of his days at GWS as a backman).The fact that he's so quick and agile for his size will also mean he doesn't have to always play on the giants. Leave them for Tommy Mac and Dunn. So there's a straight swap of you're worried about 'replacement'. The other argument is that as a player, we've won and our backline hardly looks out of sorts without him. Sure if and when he plays like he did on the weekend he can be a valuable player, but in my eyes, if hypothetically he left and we picked up someone like Yarran or McKenzie from GC we'd be far better off as a backline unit. We are too one-dimensional. And the only reason I'm bringing Garland up is because he's out of contract and a FA. Not because I have some problem with the guy.

I agree there seems to be more love than you'd expect from a player like him. He's effective. However he always gets third best defender behind Walker and Jenkins. When Dawes was in form last year he was just as effective as Lynch.

Yeh they were. That was the state of our list. They were considered best 22.

2007 - Morton, Grimes, Maric 2008 - Watts, Blease, Strauss 2009 - Scully, Trengove, Gysberts and Tapscott 2010 - Lucas Cook 2011 - Taggert, Tynan and Sellar 2012 - Toumpas and Viney* That period was all pre-Taylor, (we know what happened in 2012 with the Toumpas/Neeld fiasco). They're all top 25 picks except Viney who was pick 26 and except that 2011 period but I wanted to show that because it was a howler considering all of those players are gone. The blokes highlighted are still on our list. Watts has been through hell and is only now beginning to show consistency in his form. Trengove, Grimes and Toumpas remain question marks for the next year. Which leaves Viney as our only pick during the pre-Taylor era as an absolute tick. He has improved every year he has played. 8 complete and utter fails who are no longer on our list. 3 who are battling for their AFL careers in Grimes, Trengove and Toumpas. 1 special case who will make it but it's been a long time coming in Watts. Compare that period with what Taylor and co have been able to achieve. The strike rate comparison is ridiculous and the rookies he's picked alone in Vanders, Harmes, White and king infuriate me considering we couldn't get a top 25 pick right for almost 5 years. One of the many reasons we have been battling away for so long. Thanks again BP. (mostly anyway).

Hogan has benefitted from being on an AFL list for two full years. One of which he played an entire season at VFL level as a key forward against men. I don't want to take anything away from him. I love him. But you're taking away from others by missing something as significant as this. Context. I really don't understand the point of comparisons like these.

I know posters are sick of hearing me harp on about it, but if you haven't seen some of the reasoning given for supporters being 'pro-Garland leaving' then I'm not sure who's posts you've been reading. All of the reasoning is absolutely valid. I will say this however. Garland's game on the weekend was the best I've seen of his this year. He more often than not defends well in most games, but against Collingwood he also played with flair, was creative with the ball, provided run and played with much more intensity. If he played like that all the time, I think you'd find most would be keen for him to stay. But he doesn't. He is a senior player who's form is up and down like a yo-yo and he plays in a backline that is one-dimensional. We desperately need creativity, run and carry, urgency and foot-skills in our backhalf. No one is 'bashing' Garland. Supporters are looking at ways in which we can improve our list all over the ground and that takes into account many things. Things like who is coming out of contract this year? What are they offering the club presently? Are they or are they not a FA? Could our team and backline gain from losing a player like Garland given that he is a FA? There are many questions. It's not as simple to say, 'he is clearly best 22 atm therefore he's important'. Jordie McKenzie, Bail, Matt Jones and Terlich were best 22 not long ago. If you adopt that kind of a philosophy about a list, it's not going to improve or grow very much.

Interesting.. I wonder how hard we're chasing.. Have seen a bit of him but have never been enamoured with him. Watch this spce I guess.

Agree and that's what I think we should do for this game.Goldy is in a class of his own and I think we need two ruckmen to smash into him all day. Sub Jamar off at some point. Gawn to play deep forward whilst resting means Hogan won't necessarily have best defender. Dawes plays third fiddle and hopefully makes a statement. I'd love to bring in White this week for Grimes and Newton in for Michie. Doubt it'll happen but I'd like to see it. Ins: Jamar, White and Newton Outs: Michie, Grimes and Harmes Harmes stiff but I like the way we've been giving those young boys a taste. He's not playing badly, but I reckon he could find some more footy. Having him and Neal-Bullen playing is one too many who just don't see enough of it. Neither of them are impacting enough and against a team like North we need some big contributions from most.

Please, for the love of God stop! ....

I think you'll find you're on your own or at the very least in the minority with that one. Yarran's kicking skills are elite.

He has shown that he can be lazy.Just as Watts has. They've both also shown that they have an ability to not be lazy. I'd argue that Yarran over his career has shown more of an appetite to chase and tackle than Watts. But that's not the point. Your outlandish comments are absurd. One week you say how putrid we are. The next you say we'll be a team of superstars next year. It's the same when you make ultimatums about players. Yarran is not a lazy footballer. He is simply not playing at the required level at the moment.

Haha. Honestly. Some supporters. I can only imagine what you and others would be saying about Watts if he was at Carlton and Yarran if he were at the dees. The exact opposite to what you just said I'd suggest. Yarran is a proven talent, an elite kick, elite speed and is simply playing in a side who are going through a rough patch and is clearly not responding in a way you'd like as coach. Garlett was playing in a very similar way last year under Mick. He was also playing in the VFL. Look at what he's doing for us atm? You're all blind. Saying that Watts has 'got it' and Yarran doesn't. Lols. Yarran would be an extremely valuable addition for our side. It doesn't matter what way any bias Melbourne supporter paints it. He is supremely talented and has runs on the board. But like many players, is struggling at a club who are shot.

And in response to all those saying 'Collingwood played badly because of our pressure', whilst some of that might be the case I'll ask this: Where farkkk has that pressure been, (especially in that first quarter) in every game this year? Why do the players pick and choose?

Good win with nothing to be overly excited about. Pies were shocking. Let's see if we can back it up next week. Or at least stay competitive and not completely drop off in skill level. It's all I ask for. For next week and until the end of the season. Consistency in effort and general football skills.

Like it.

Please provide a copy of these 'reports'. Regards, STMJ

Yes but why do you see him as important?I asked how you think he played on the weekend? Why do you think he's more important to hold onto when compared to someone like Frawley? Regardless of the different levels of compo. What is he actually contributing as far as positive change goes for the club?

Not everyone rides that rollercoaster. You're pointing to group that subscribe to that 'exaggerate a win and exaggerate a loss'. I am not in that group, and others who have already replied to you are clearly not either. I'm not sure why you think it's so black and white with supporters. I get the impression that you're a 'happy go lucky' supporter who doesn't get too carried away whether we win or lose, just happy to follow a sporting club, happy to fall in love with players who have donned the jumper for enough years that you end up blind to the fact that part of the reason we go through such embarrassingly bad patches of football is because of some of these players. Etc etc... You're acting like just as much of dolt for having a dig on a thread that is clearly not in the 'exaggerate every win or loss' camp. There was no meaningful contribution. Just a jeer. The 'loss' or the fact we 'lose' is actually irrelevant for me. It's the way in which we play the game. Regardless of the result. Which is why I don't get carried away about a win at skilled stadium. It was one win. We played some good football, Geelong played very poorly. We can't maintain a standard. I don't why it's so hard for some supporters to see the deeply-rooted problems that the MFC face. And I don't know why it's so hard to see that some supporters care about genuine change.

You won't get an answer. Nasher seems to be in the 'I'm content with being average' crew of demonland. Don't know why anyone would find it funny if we beat Collingwood. Especially with Cloke and Elliot out. How many [censored] 'rebound' games have we seen with this club? Why would anyone think that everything will be all okay if we were to beat Collingwood?

I disagree that it was a mistake because at the time it was clearly necessary. Neeld, (for everything he did wrong) rightly saw the complete lack of professional leaders at our club. Players who had a natural willingness to compete for example. I understand Dawes is way underperforming, his form has been horrible this year and his skills have always been questionable, but his addition to our club at that time was again the result of a failed previous coaching tenure and ability to address serious problems with our list. One being the lack of professional senior figures at our club. Dawes is much less of a failure than Rodan and Byrnes. But yes, what we are seeing now with him is again just intergenerational list problems.